Clean Plate Challenge!

By Quinn Martindale ‘27, Resident Editor; Edited by Safiya Ahemd ‘27, Resident Editor

A theme of waste reduction was in the air at Ridley College during the month of April with the “Clean Plate Challenge” Spearheaded by Ridley’s own Eco leads Marjorie Chanda and Eugenio Yarto. As an effort to reduce the food waste in the dining hall and increase sustainability and a culture of environmental stewardship, the month long challenge was launched, incentivizing students to finish their plate with “skip the line passes, a week-long initiative designed to encourage students and staff to reduce food waste in the dining hall. With food waste being one of the leading contributors to climate change, and it being something Ridley needs to change, the challenge serves as a timely reminder that every bite counts. To learn more about the challenge the Tiger Times got to meet with Marjorie and Eugenio, read ahead in the following sections.

Quinn: What inspired you to launch the Clean Plate Challenge at our school?

Marjorie: It all started in the fall when we were invited to visit Appleby College, we went there to learn about their multiple sustainable initiatives. At Appleby, we learn about their multiple sustainable initiatives and how they worked, but one thing that really caught our eye was their zero-food waste project. It was created by the students that are part of their own Eco-Lead club. Their project was created to reduce the food waste in the school’s cafeteria, they had poster which would have information like “food waste difference from this week from last week”, “difference from this month to the month prior”, and a comment box. The poster was hanged at the wall Infront of where the students clean their food from the plates.

That’s where our poster inspiration came from. For the actual challenge we heard that Saint Andrews college had a challenge going on, and since we were already thinking of creating our own, we did some research and learned more about their challenge and how it worked. They have almost the same challenge as we have, but with some differences, like instead of allowing the students to skip the line or allowing the staff to pick a prize, they would surprise the winners with desserts. But since we are encouraging the reduction of food waste, we didn’t see a reason why to surprise the winners with a dessert. After finally after all the hard work and multiple talks with Mrs. Becken and the green council we finally made it possible!

Quinn: How did you promote the challenge to encourage student involvement?

Marjorie: Promoting the challenge wasn’t as hard as we expected, and we managed it well. We had opportunities to talk during assembly and house meeting with our peers and classmates, and communications helped us promote the challenge around the school on the Tv’s, which brought students attention. For us to get the challenge started we got Mr.Gu from IT to help us create the app, which helped the whole club to get together and give their ideas and suggestions. Mr. Gu was a big help since he was the one who create the app for us and made everything easier and more user friendly for the challenge. When we started the challenge in the great hall, there was a lot of talking and socializing needed. A lot of the students, faculty, and staff did not know what the challenge was and what it was for, we chatted with many of them and explained the challenge.

That was honestly one of our favorite parts of the challenge, because we got to know new people that we normally don’t really talk to and have fun while people compete. In the House meetings we made sure to mention about the challenge and encourage our housemates to take what they eat and eat what they take, which made a difference. On the TV’s we had the weekly winners which were divided by grades, faculty, and staff, it would also include the houses that were leading that week, which gave them Bermuda cup/Bradley shield points.

Quinn: Did it go as planned?

Eugenio: It went relatively well and it went as planned in many aspects, such as how we wee going to execute it with an app and how we measured it, as well as getting people involved, although it was a bit more challenging than the rest, at its final purpose that was decreasing food waste I’d say that there was a noticeable decrease from when we started to when it ended, as well as when we presented in assembly for the first time we saw a decline of food waste, so it did go well and almost 100% as planned.

Quinn: What do you want students to take away from this experience?

Eugenio: I want students to take away from this experience that their actions can have an impact, even if they’re little actions, such as finishing a whole plate of food, it can demonstrate that in the future you can put your grain of sand in other things, and it can have an impact. As well, I want them to take into consideration that resources are not limited and we should use the ones we have, because we’re the lucky ones that get to sit at a table and eat food, while others around the world don’t.

Quinn: Is this going to be a recurring challenge? If not, what other initiatives do you have planned?

Eugenio: Yes, the clean plate challenge is going to be a recurring thing run by the eco-lead club next year, we’re still planning on scheduling times throughout the year, however, we do have it in mind to be run from first term to end term to track results and variables. As well, we are going to run other initiatives in the future, however they’re not really thought of yet and they will be formulated next year.

The clean plate challenge is more than just some contest, it’s a testament to a new age of sustainability at Ridley College. It gives each student the opportunity to take their own part in the often-overwhelming climate change battle into their own hands. Thanks to Ridleys committed eco leads, a school has pulled together to take down food waste once and for all. Here’s to empty plates, full stomachs and a more sustainable Ridley, one student at a time.